Uconn

Connecticut's Breanna Stewart, left, and Notre Dame's Ariel Braker, right, fight for possession of the ball during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Storrs, Conn., Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013. Notre Dame won 73-72. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

STORRS — UConn freshman forward Breanna Stewart sat at the end of the bench against Louisville on Tuesday night nursing her sprained ankle and stewing in her own easygoing, goofy, but competitive manner.

Each time a player would go down the bench giving high-fives, she's give athletic trainer Rosemary Ragle a playful dirty look for not letting her play.

She said that as she went through rehab, she bugged Ragle 10 times per day to let her get back on the court. Bria Hartley, who was rehabbing with her a lot, said Stewart would complain every two minutes.

"I was pretty upset about it," Stewart said. "It was just more frustrating than anything, because I felt like I could play on it."

After rolling her ankle in practice during a rebounding drill and missing the last two games, Stewart returns to the lineup today against Syracuse for the showdown of two 15-1 teams, hoping she has put behind her both her injury and her four-game slump prior to the ankle sprain.

After setting a program record for scoring the most points (169) in the first 10 games of her career, Stewart mysteriously began to struggle. She averaged 16.9 points and shot 59.8 percent from the field those first 10 games. Over her last four, however, she averaged just 8.8 points and shot 34.2 percent.

"I think it's always good to take a deep breath, back off a little bit," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "But I also think that being at practice is the best thing that helps you get better. Obviously, Stewie was in a little bit of a slump. The best medicine sometimes is to just walk away from it for a little bit. And she's looked really good in practice the last couple of days so I'm encouraged."

Stewart was moving well and not favoring the ankle at all. She said the ankle is still stiff, swollen and purple, but once she gets warmed up she doesn't feel limited.

She said that in retrospect, sitting out when she did was probably a good thing. She felt when she scored 10 points with eight rebounds in the second half of her last game, against Georgetown, she started to play like herself again. Having five days off without practice or games allowed her to think about the good things she did.

"I was just trying to put positive thoughts in there," Stewart said. "I was really thinking about how excited I was to get back on the court with my team and just play. I think it just came back to me. I think just playing and not really worrying about things really helped. I was over thinking things a little bit."

Her teammates said it's great to have her back not only physically ready to play, but in a better frame of mind again, focused and ready to work.

They all know that when she plays well, she is the team's best rebounder, she gets putbacks, and her 6-foot-4 body and 71-inch wing span combined with her ability to shoot threes makes her an incredibly difficult matchup. She also gives the team a defensive presence in the lane and gets a lot of deflections.

"When she relaxes and just kind of plays, that's when all the good stuff starts to come out," Kelly Faris said. "I've gone through the phase where I've tried to do too much and I played too fast. And you get in your head. So the last few days she's kind of buckled down. There's still mistakes here and there, but mentally I think she's making strides.''

They realize, however, that she is a freshman still apt to experience lapses in focus or lulls when she doesn't play up to her abilities.

"If we have a mismatch in there and feel confident enough that we can get her the ball inside and she's going to finish, that's huge," Faris said. "Or if she's knocking every shot down and they have a big player on her, pull her outside and just feed her the ball. So, yeah, she's going to be one of our go-to players if things are going right and she's on her game.''

Stewart arrived at UConn full of confidence, ready to work hard and believing she's make a big impact this season. The past three weeks have grounded her and put everything in perspective.

"I think I was kind of going through the motions at some point, and I just can't let myself do that," Auriemma said. "I have always just make a play. Even if it is the wrong play, do something. I think there were times I just needed to re-gather myself and keep my confidence high. At this level you have to know what type of player you are and that you can make shots and that you can do these things, and then you have to go out and do them. I'm still learning."

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